There are Reforms... and Then There are Reforms. (November 26, 2005)

    Today is the fourth anniversary of Brendan Nelson being sworn in as Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training.

One thing is certain --  he will never be thought of as a quiet achiever. But some matters have become apparent. So far there is no indication that Australia's institutions of higher learning have improved either as teaching or research facilities. And of course as recipients of a percentage of federal revenue they have lost ground.

Is it possible that from the Coalition Government's viewpoint that this the object of the Nelson reforms?

Not entirely, while there is a consensus of opinion in Cabinet that funding research, and  fundamental research in particular, is an unnecessary drain on federal revenue which could be more usefully spent

 politically, there is also an adversarial perception of the occupants of the university precincts and they must be brought to heel.

Now a recent report in Science (see also Could It Ever Happen Here) indicates that despite or because of the traumas currently besetting the Canadian government, they have a somewhat different perception.

Eliot Phillipson

[T]he Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has decided to give institutions a better chance of retaining their prized researchers. It's part of several programmatic changes at the foundation, an independent entity created by the government in 1997 to improve Canada's research infrastructure, as it prepares to spend the last billion dollars of a US$3.1 (A$4.2) billion endowment. One US$262 (A$356) million program has been tweaked to let universities--who receive block grants based on an assessment of faculty productivity--provide infrastructure for established as well as newly hired professors. CFI has also changed the rules for a core fund, which is preparing for a US$276 (A$375) million competition, to allow previous recipients to come back to the table for another bite.

CFI president Eliot Phillipson said, "If we hadn't done this, the danger would be a bit of a revolving door," and added that he believes that retention of faculty has become as critical an issue in academia as recruitment.

University officials told Science the changes are a sign that Phillipson, the former dean of medicine at the University of Toronto, has been listening since taking charge of CFI in February 2004.